(Istanbul) A 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey and neighboring Syria on Monday, killing more than 100 people in both countries and causing very significant damage according to initial reports.
50 people have been killed in several cities in Syria, according to state media, and at least 53 in Turkey according to an AFP tally based on official sources.
According to the American seismological institute USGS, the earthquake took place at 4:17 a.m. local time (8:17 p.m. Eastern time), at a depth of about 17.9 kilometers.
PHOTO ASSOCIATED PRESS STAFF, ASSOCIATED PRESS
The epicenter is located in the district of Pazarcik, in the province of Kahramanmaras (southeast), about 60 km as the crow flies from the Syrian border.
This earthquake is the largest in Turkey since the earthquake of August 17, 1999, which caused the death of 17,000 people, including a thousand in Istanbul.
At least 23 people have been killed and 420 others injured in Malatya province, its governor told public broadcaster TRT.
PHOTO DEPO PHOTOS, REUTERS
A man walks past a collapsed building after an earthquake in Malatya.
The governor of Sanliurfa, quoted by the state agency Anadolu, reported 17 dead and 30 injured in his province.
At least six others were killed in Diyarbakir province, its governor said.
PHOTO REUTERS TV, REUTERS
People search through rubble after an earthquake in Diyarbakir, Turkey.
According to AFAD, the government’s disaster management agency, the earthquake that occurred overnight had a magnitude of 7.4 and a depth of 7 km.
The tremors, felt across the southeast of the country, were also felt in Lebanon and Cyprus, according to AFP correspondents.
Videos posted on social networks show destroyed buildings in several cities in the south-east of the country.
An AFP correspondent in Diyarbakir, a large city in the south-east of the country, saw a collapsed building, with rescuers hard at work trying to extricate people from the rubble.
On Twitter, Turkish Internet users shared the identity and location of people trapped under the rubble in several cities in the south-east of the country.
Adana city mayor Zeydan Karalar said two 17-storey and 14-storey buildings were destroyed, according to TRT.
Buildings were destroyed in many cities in the south-east of the country, including Adiyaman, Diyarbakir and Malatya, according to the private Turkish channel NTV, raising fears of victims.
At least 50 dead in Syria
At least 50 people have been killed in collapsing buildings following the massive earthquake that hit Syria at dawn on Monday with its epicenter in Turkey, according to state media and hospitals.
According to an official from the Ministry of Health, quoted by the official Sana agency, 42 dead and more than 200 injured have been recorded in Aleppo, the second Syrian city in the north of the country, in Hama (center) and in Latakia, on the Mediterranean coast.
The toll could rise further, added the official.
In rebel-held areas near the border with Turkey, at least eight people were killed in the collapse of many buildings, a hospital source told AFP.
Rescuers were busy removing civilians trapped under the rubble in several localities near the Turkish border, including Azaz and Al-Bab, and the toll could increase, AFP correspondents noted.
In the rebel area of Idlib in northern Syria, rescuers said they were looking for dozens of people still buried in the rubble.
“Our teams are on alert to rescue survivors,” said the White Helmets, rescuers engaged in rebel areas in Syria, on Twitter.
PHOTO NAYEF AL-ABOUD, FRANCE-PRESSE AGENCY
Rescuers try to extricate a young boy from the rubble of a building that collapsed following an earthquake, in the Syrian border town of Azaz, in northern Aleppo province.
The earthquake, of magnitude 7.8, struck Monday at dawn in southern Turkey and neighboring Syria, killing nearly 100 people in both countries and very significant damage according to initial reports.
It caused scenes of panic in northern Syria where residents rushed outside, despite the torrential rains, as well as in neighboring Lebanon where the tremors were strongly felt.
Call for international help
“All our teams are on alert. We have issued a level four alarm. It is a call, including for international help,” Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu told the Haberturk channel.
The governor of Gaziantep province called on residents to gather outside.
Turkish rescuers and civil defense as well as Syrian firefighters were at work on Monday morning to try to extract possible victims from the rubble, according to local media.
Turkey is located on one of the most active seismic zones in the world.
At the end of November, a magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck northwestern Turkey, injuring around 50 people and causing limited damage, according to the Turkish emergency services.
In January 2020, a magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck the provinces of Elazig and Malatya (East), killing more than 40 people.
In October of the same year, a magnitude 7 earthquake in the Aegean Sea killed 114 people and injured more than 1,000 in Turkey.